Sports

Grange confident Ja women's bobsleigh team will medal

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange says she is confident of a podium finish for Jamaica in the Bobsleigh competition at the Winter Olympic Games which will take place in Pyeongchang, South Korea from February 9 to 25.

“I feel that the girls will make the podium,” said Grange after a video conference on Sunday with Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian, Carrie Russell and Audra Segree — who are the first Jamaican women to qualify for the Bobsleigh competition at the Olympics.

Also a part of the video conference from South Korea was President of the Jamaica Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation Chris Stokes; Chef de mission Leo Campbell; and team captain Dudley Stokes.

Grange congratulated the women on their historic achievement of qualifying for the Bobsleigh competition and told them that they had “already made a great impact” on the sport and that the entire Jamaica is supporting them.

Stokes told Grange that this is the “best prepared” Bobsleigh team to represent Jamaica.

At the same time, the minister expressed confidence over the performance of Anthony Watson, who is the first athlete to represent Jamaica in Skeleton at the Olympic Winter Games.

He received a late call up to the competition after several countries declined places for the Skeleton event. Watson was still travelling to join the Jamaican contingent in South Korea at the time of the video conference.

For his part Stokes said, “in terms of getting the athletes mentally prepared to represent the country at the highest level and to understand what their achievement means in the context of our culture and our history, today's sit down and chat between the minister and the athletes was really invaluable”.

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